July 4th is an important date in American history and for this author. Paradoxically, it may be an even more important date for the rest of the world.
Imagine, for a moment, what the world would look like had the American Revolution failed, and the colonies remained under British rule. Would we resemble Canada? No, more likely England as it exists today. How would world history have unfolded without the United States? Britain did not decline because it lost its American colony; its challenges came from an inability to adapt. The world would have paid a mighty price indeed for our absence.
As most celebrate 250 years of existence, millions of Americans disrespect the flag, dismiss the values that built this country, and reject the Judeo-Christian moral framework that underpins the free world. We’ve been hijacked by people who believe America is the problem.
It’s time to flip that narrative on its head. The real question is not, “What’s wrong with America?” It is, “What would the world look like without America?” The answer is simple: thank God America exists.
The World America Was Born Into
In 1776, the world was not free. It was largely dominated by empires ruled by monarchs who claimed divine right. Ordinary people possessed no inherent liberties; rulers granted permissions. The idea that human beings could govern themselves was largely unknown and feared.
America shattered that world.
We introduced a revolutionary belief.
Our rights come from God, not government.
Power must be restrained.
The individual is sovereign.
The state is the servant, not the master.
This was not the prevailing way of thinking.
It was a rebellion.
If America Had Never Existed
To understand America’s importance, imagine a world where the greatest force for human liberty never appeared.
Political Consequences
Without America, constitutional self-government loses its defining example. There is no Declaration of Independence. No Constitution. No republic proves that free people can govern themselves while restraining power.
The French Revolution drew heavily from our Declaration of Independence. Latin American independence movements looked to the American example as proof that colonial rule could be overthrown and republican government established. Without America, the advance of liberty almost certainly slows.
Monarchies and empires remain dominant far longer. Individual liberty remains a philosophical aspiration rather than the expectation of hundreds of millions. No nation has developed a constitutional system that has inspired countless others while protecting liberty through limited government.
Economic Consequences
Remove America, and you remove one of the principal engines of modern prosperity.
No American industrial revolution.
No mass production.
No Silicon Valley.
No technological revolution that transformed everyday life and helped lift billions from poverty.
The world economy develops more slowly, remains less innovative, and is likely dominated much longer by older imperial systems rather than the dynamic marketplace that emerged over the past two centuries.
Military and Geopolitical Consequences
America’s greatest influence emerged during the defining conflicts of the twentieth century.
When the United States entered the First World War in 1917, American troops, industry, and financial strength broke the stalemate. Without American intervention, many historians believe Germany could have secured a negotiated victory that fundamentally reshaped Europe.
The Second World War demonstrated America’s uniqueness.
The Soviet Union remained in the fight because American industry sustained it through Lend-Lease.
Britain survived because American production and shipping kept it supplied.
The liberation of Western Europe became possible because American forces carried out the D-Day landings.
Without the United States, Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan would almost certainly prevail. The Holocaust reaches an even more horrific conclusion. European democracy disappears. Totalitarian empires dominate much of the world.
America’s role did not end in 1945.
Only the United States possessed the industrial strength and economic might to sustain the Berlin Airlift, deliver the Marshall Plan, or anchor NATO strongly enough to deter Soviet expansion. Eventually, our economic, technological, and military superiority helped pressure the Soviet Union until it finally collapsed under the weight of its own failed ambitions.
Without America, the Iron Curtain may well have remained in place for generations.
Moral and Humanitarian Consequences:
America has been the world’s imperfect but indispensable conscience.
We rebuilt defeated enemies instead of permanently crushing them. We promoted religious liberty, expanded international commerce, delivered humanitarian assistance on an unprecedented scale, and repeatedly defended nations unable to defend themselves.
Without America, much of humanity’s progress over the last 250 years would never have materialized.
The World America Actually Shaped
Because America exists, the modern world is freer, richer, and safer than any previous era in human history.
Representative government spread across continents. Totalitarian ideologies were defeated or contained. Innovation accelerated. Global poverty declined dramatically. Scientific and medical advances transformed everyday life. American prosperity generated charitable giving and humanitarian assistance unmatched by any other nation.
The modern international order—with all its imperfections—rests heavily upon foundations America helped build, defend, and sustain.
America’s Modern Crisis of Confidence
Yet, at the very moment we should be celebrating these achievements, America finds itself consumed by self-loathing.
A generation has been taught that America is uniquely evil. Statues are torn down. Flags are burned. The principles that created the freest and most prosperous nation in history are mocked by people exercising freedoms made possible by those principles.
This is not moral seriousness.
It is historical amnesia.
America has never been perfect. No nation has. But judging America without considering the world that existed before America—or the world that would likely have existed without America—produces a profoundly distorted understanding of history.
Conclusion—Gratitude, Not Shame
The question is not whether America is perfect.
The question is whether the world is better because America exists.
The answer cannot seriously be disputed.
Without America, constitutional liberty spreads more slowly. Democratic government lacks its greatest example. The twentieth century likely unfolds very differently. Totalitarian powers become stronger. Prosperity arrives later, if at all, for much of the world. The international order that has produced the most peaceful and prosperous era in human history is fundamentally altered.
There will always be detractors. During the Bicentennial, critics pointed to Watergate, the recession, and the recent end of the Vietnam War as reasons not to celebrate. Fifty years earlier, America wrestled with bitter divisions over immigration policy. Every generation has believed its moment to be uniquely troubled. Every generation eventually gains perspective.
America has always argued with itself. That is not evidence of failure. It is one of the defining characteristics of a free people.
As we mark 250 years, we should remember what too many have forgotten.
America has been the indispensable nation of the modern era. More than any other country, it has shaped the world we now inhabit and defended the freedoms that billions have come to regard as their birthright.
We are not just another country.
We are a superpower without equal, carrying extraordinary responsibilities because history placed them upon us.
God Bless America!
Allan J. Feifer—Patriot
Author, Businessman, Thinker, and Strategist. Read more about Allan, his background, and his ideas to create a better tomorrow at www.1plus1equals2.com. Read additional great writers here.
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